Raman Spectroscopy as a Promising Tool for Noninvasive Point-of-Care Glucose Monitoring

• Published in: Journal of diabetes science and technology 2014-09, Vol.8 (5), p.974-979
• Main Authors: Scholtes-Timmerman, Maarten J., Bijlsma, Sabina, Fokkert, Marion J., Slingerland, Robbert, van Veen, Sjaak J. F.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Blood Glucose - analysis; Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring - instrumentation; Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring - methods; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Monitoring, Physiologic - instrumentation; Monitoring, Physiologic - methods; Original; Point-of-Care Systems; Spectrum Analysis, Raman - instrumentation; Spectrum Analysis, Raman - methods
• ISSN: 1932-2968; 1932-2968; 1932-3107
• DOI: 10.1177/1932296814543104

Background: Self-monitoring of glucose is important for managing diabetes. Noninvasive glucose monitors are not yet available, but patients would benefit highly from such a device. Methods: We present results that may lead to a novel, point-of-care noninvasive system to measure blood glucose based on Raman spectroscopy. A hospitalized cohort of 111 subjects was measured using a custom-made Raman spectrometer system. Blood glucose reference samples were used to correlate Raman data to glucose levels, using advanced preprocessing and analysis algorithms. Results: A correlation coefficient (R2) of .83 was found correlating independent Raman-based predictions on reference blood glucose for the full cohort. Stratification of the cohort in gender-specific groups raised correlation levels to .88 (females) and .94 (males). Glucose could be measured noninvasively with average errors as low as 0.9 mM. Conclusion: We conclude that this novel system shows promising results for the advance of noninvasive, point-of-care glucose monitoring.